April 25-28, Chugach Heli trip

Our group of four bought the Costco (yes Costco) Heli-ski package with Valdez Heli Camps back in January and booked a trip the last week of April,  hoping we would ski powder but also prepared for corn. The package included a vertical punch card, which the fine print made very clear you were essentially flying on standby, but since the A-Star they had seats 4 clients, it worked out perfectly for our group and we flew and skied together.

We flew three out of four days, toured one day up at Thompson Pass on the no fly day, then bugged out two days early when the weather turned to poo-poo. Our first day we skied some deep powder in flat light and stiff wind and the guides and our pilot did a great job accessing the goods in questionable flying conditions. Day two we waited around base camp for an hour until the last sucker hole filled in, and we were off to the pass where it was 36 and snowing at 2,900 feet. We had a nice tour on a route called Odyssey,  with decent skiing in 3-4 inches of fresh.

The forecast for day 3 was grim, so we did our best to honor the tradition of “drinking it blue” and our group made the locals proud, for when we arose the next morning the blue bird was chirping. Holy smokes! We rallied the gear and were flying by 9 or so. We couldn’t have asked for a better day. We warmed up on a nice North facing bowl in boot deep powder, then cruised down a mellow glacier for 2,000 feet on powder that turned to corn. After that we spent the morning working a ridgeline with four big obvious lines. A group of two nice German skiers that we were sharing the helicopter (and terrain choices) with left at 11:30, and the rest of the day we essentially had a private helicopter, no waiting, and no terrain restrictions. After lunch we crossed a gaping valley and went and skied two gigantic lines that were at the very top of the pucker scale for our group. The guides were pumped because they had had never skied these lines, and combined with a toe-in landing (helicopter hovers and you carefully climb out) our adrenaline and stoke levels were off the charts.

The last day was good too. The guides and pilot at Valdez-Heli Camps were top notch, both in assessing and delivering terrain for our group, and keeping everyone safe, plus the Costco deal worked out better than expected.

Hard to pick three pictures, but here you go.

Couple more pics

Way to go Aaron!!
That chute looked sweet, that would get me to make very wide long fast turns as to avoid the sluff factor!
Hope you can link more pictures in some page.
I have another buddy who did the Costco deal. Sounds good other than the potential standby thing
The cost of the extra runs were pretty cheap if I remember right?

Downright inspiring pictures. Thanks for sharing.

looks like you can still buy the costco deal for next year eh?

Way to go Aaron!!
That chute looked sweet, that would get me to make very wide long fast turns as to avoid the sluff factor!
Hope you can link more pictures in some page.
I have another buddy who did the Costco deal. Sounds good other than the potential standby thing
The cost of the extra runs were pretty cheap if I remember right?

Hi Joe, Sluff mgmt was real important. On the first day I skied back into mine and got washed onto a small rock face and barely got on my feet in time to jump off it. The guides at VHC said there were a few Crystal groups there this year on the Costco deal. Maybe your friends? I can't remember the vert prices but we all bought 2 Costco packages and booked them back to back with the goal of using the vert asap (which we did.) Plan was to buy more but the weather said no.

looks like you can still buy the costco deal for next year eh?

Hi cjski, They said they are doing Costco again but I'm not sure if it's for sale yet.

Link to pics:
picasaweb.google.com/AaronTRiggs/ValdezHeliTrip?feat=directlink

Sounds like a great experience overall.  That first pic is amazing.  I'm right now picturing my ski tips getting ready to drop into that one. 

I'd like to get a group together to do this trip next season.  Would you mind sharing some of the travel logistics involved in making a trip like this happen?

Thanks for the report.

Would you mind sharing some of the travel logistics involved in making a trip like this happen?

I think the key is getting a group of 3-4 who all have similar skiing abilities, fitness and risk tolerance. Other that, just do your research on any number of the heli-ops in the area, book it, then cross your fingers that the weather gods are on your side when you go. We got extra lucky that a cold storm dumped right before we arrived so there was pow. One of the guides told me that in Feb it's blower "all aspects, all elevations." I told him it sounds just like Snoqualmie Pass.

Wow! Just wow....
OK coupla questions for you though. How much did the heli trip cost (not your cost to get up there, or your booze bill), how much heli vert did you get?
Tell me if I'm too nosey, just really curious about AK heli. Thanks